Manchester Life agrees affordable housing partnership
Social housing provider Great Places and developer Manchester Life have announced a partnership to identify sites for affordable homes and a create a 10-year residential masterplan for East Manchester.
Manchester Life is currently looking at options for further development around Ancoats and New Islington, while Great Places has recently committed to delivering an additional 750 affordable homes by 2023, in partnership with Homes England.
The joint planning exercise will start immediately, and aims to ensure that East Manchester residential development frameworks include affordable housing at a range of tenures and prices.
The collaboration will look at accelerating progress on current sites and act as a platform for a range of investors and developers to get involved in the city’s affordable housing delivery over the next decade. Sites identified may be brought forward by either Manchester Life or Great Places, but will also be open for other developers to participate.
Matthew Harrison, chief executive for Great Places, said: “Effective partnerships are central to affordable housing delivery in today’s complex operating environment, so we are very pleased to be collaborating with Manchester Life given their track record of mobilising quickly and at scale to make a positive impact across a whole neighbourhood.”
Manchester Life is a joint venture between Abu Dhabi United Group and Manchester City Council, established in 2014 with a focus on the regeneration of Ancoats and New Islington. The company is currently delivering eight projects totalling 1,500 homes.
Marty Edelman, Manchester Life’s executive chairman, said: “From the outset, we set up Manchester Life to be a platform for convening multiple participants to unlock the full potential of Ancoats, New Islington and surrounding communities.
“With the range and scale of housing required over the next 10 years, it’s clear that a collaborative approach to masterplanning is a critical first step in defining the requirements for current and future residents.
“Given the calibre and track record of Great Places, we have every confidence that our collaboration will quickly shape viable pathways for significant new affordable housing and serve as a platform for new partnerships to form.”
Great Places plans to invest £400m in residential development by 2023, the majority of which will be in the North West.
Great stuff. But please Manchester Life, let’s produce buildings which are more visually appealing than Cotton Field Wharf and Sawmill Court in future – both of which look miserable
By Anonymous
Agree re. Cotton Field Wharf and Sawmill Court – miserable value-engineered boxes which will not age well. While its great to see some life in Ancoats in the last 18 months, it feels its been rushed at the cost of quality and liveability.
Will be interesting to see the role HAs play in a post-Brexit world where property investment will start to look a lot more shaky. Great Places could be a huge player in this part of Manchester.
By Okay Places
Every single one of Manchester Life’s new build schemes is an architectural crime. Cotton Field Wharf and Sawmill Court both look as though they are ready for demolition.
By Acelius
Good to see that Manchester is starting to think in a more inclusive way.
By Paul Smith
Great Places has a serious role to play in this partnership. It must raise design consciousness. Cotton Field Wharf is benchmark ugly & something of an insult to the market. MCC should have no part in barracks building, though admittedly, Cotton Field Wharf does manage to lower itself to the design floor that is hit by its neighbour, the Free School.
By Phil Griffin
I must be the only one who likes Cottonfield Wharf.
By Anon
I Agree with Phil Griffin. The consortium needs a design manager to make sure there is some quality in the new schemes brought forward.
By Sad